When Takemichi heard that he could save Tachibana, he diligently studied all the documents that Naoto gave him, listening to every explanation that Naoto gave. He hadn't slept a wink, his energy was drained out. However, this was Takemichi and his determination, nothing could stop that. He trained his punch, training the one that could bring an opponent down in a few seconds.

"Are you ready?" Naoto asked, offering his hand to Takemichi.

"Yes. I promise I will save Tachibana."

Takemichi shook his hand, and everything went black.

July 6th, 2005

BA-DUMP

When Takemichi woke up, he was in the middle of a fight. He was taken aback by surprise, mind blank, giving his opponent a chance to punch him right in the face. He fell unconscious.

It was already evening when Takemichi opened his eyes again. Kiyomasa was sitting right next to him counting money from the fighting ring. Right, the fighting ring! Takemichi finally remembered a piece of his gloomy middle school days. He used to fight in Toman's fighting ring and always lost, even if his opponent was weaker. The reason? Obvious. His teenage self lost the will to fight. His cockiness was replaced with shame and fear.

He was such a coward back then.

Takemichi decided it would be over, starting from now he would change everything! He would save Tachibana, he would prove himself worthy of living.

"Oh, you finally woke up, dumbass. One punch and it's over? I thought you were popular in Mizo Mid! I lost all my fucking money for betting, you know?" said one of Kiyomasa's subordinates.

"It's a disappointing fight, right, Kiyomasa?" said the other, sneering at Takemichi.

"Yeah, very. That's why you guys need to give him training," Kiyomasa muttered, still counting his money.

Two of his subordinates grinned madly, ready to beat Takemichi. However, they're not as lucky as usual. This time, Takemichi would show them his real self. The moment they come to Takemichi, he immediately landed a punch to their epigastric area. Without many struggles, they immediately fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

Kiyomasa stopped counting his money. His focus shifted to Takemichi, widening his eyes.

"The hell? Why did you embarrass us if you can actually fight, you scum?" Kiyomasa grunted. He stood up, took his bat and start walking towards Takemichi.

Takemichi backed away, walking a few steps behind as he asked Kiyomasa in a hurried voice, "W-Wait a minute! Ca-can I at least meet your leader? Kisaki or Sano?"

It turned out, that was not a good thing to say. Because now, Kiyomasa was practically running towards Takemichi, yelling, "Don't you dare mention Sano's name again!"

Takemichi didn't learn how to take down an opponent with a weapon. He was beaten to a pulp. And just from this, he lost his confidence again.

After Kiyomasa left the park, Takemichi immediately ran the other way. Crying in pain and disappointment to himself.

"I CAN'T DO THIS NAOTO!" he screamed, tears running down his eyes like a waterfall.

Unconsciously, Takemichi ran to Tachibana's house. He was staring at the door when he finally realized where he was.

"What am I doing here? Pathetic, pathetic!" he whispered to himself.

"Hanagaki-kun?"

Takemichi jumped a bit when he heard that soft voice, the one that belong to Tachibana, that he hadn't heard for years.

"Tachibana?"

When Tachibana saw his face, she immediately scrunched her face. "Are you fighting again, Hanagaki-kun?" she accused.

As always, the only thing Takemichi could say was, "I'm sorry." But this time, it was genuine.

Tachibana sighed. "You boys really love to fight. If I were a boy, I would protect you from all the people that try to hurt you! I learn karate, you know?"

Takemichi's eyes widened when he heard that, his heart was filled with warmth. If she could do that, why couldn't he?

"Don't worry, Tachibana! I will always protect you too," he said with a confident smile on his face.

Tachibana giggled when she heard that. "Said the crybaby," she said playfully, causing Takemichi's face to redden from embarrassment. "Don't call me that, I'm not a crybaby!" said Takemichi, pouting playfully. They were laughing together, so free and happy without any worry about what might come in the future.

That night, Takemichi finally gained his courage once again. He wouldn't let her down and would do anything to make sure she's alive and well in the future.

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In the bathroom, Takemichi could clearly see how troubled Akkun looked. Something must have happened.

"Everyone, today's fighter will be Takuya," he announced.

All of them were surprised, especially Makoto and Yamagishi. "How? It's impossible for Takuya!" they yelled loudly.

Takuya's body was weak, Takemichi knew that. In their childhood, Takuya was prone to illness. It was impossible for him to fight with that body, he would only get hurt, beaten up badly.

Takuya must have seen his worried face. "Don't worry, Takemichi. I'm gonna get revenge for you, just watch me fight and believe in me."

"Do your best, okay, Takuya?" Akkun cheered him up, so did Makoto and Yamagishi.

When they walked away, Takemichi walked slowly behind them with a sad smile plastered on his face. He used to think that his middle school's friends were lame, but he was wrong.

"They're the coolest friends I've ever had," he whispered.

"Oi, Takemichi, hurry up, will you!"

"I'm coming!"

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When they arrived at the fighting ring, it's already packed with audiences. Takuya assured them once again that everything would be alright, even if Takemichi could see that he was afraid and worried about the fight. This event would destroy Takuya, he was severely beaten to the point where he was unconscious for days. It's only getting worse from there, and Takemichi couldn't do anything.

This time, Takemichi would change everything. He wouldn't let anything happen to his friend, otherwise, he's wasting his chance of being able to time leap to the past. So when Takuya's name was called to fight, Takemichi shouted loudly to the arena.

"Oi! Isn't this boring? The same slave vs slave fight every day? Why don't we do... something more interesting? The fight between the king and the slave."

All of them were looking at him like he had lost his mind, which was true. Takemichi had lost his old mindset of being a coward. He's tired of not being able to do anything but run away from reality. This time, he would face it to protect those who were dear to him.

He walked to the arena with cockiness on his face, trying to provoke Kiyomasa. Kiyomasa was livid, he entered the arena, towering Takemichi. "Don't regret this later," he warned Takemichi and prepare himself to kick Takemichi right in the gut.

Takemichi swiftly shifted to the other side, avoiding every kick and punch that Kiyomasa tried to land on him.

"Go, Takemichi! Do your best!" his friends cheered him, causing Takemichi to feel more and more hyped up.

He finally landed a punch on Kiyomasa's gut, causing him to lose balance. He was grinning when he saw it. However, that happiness didn't last long, Kiyomasa landed a kick on his crotch, causing Takemichi to fall and hiss from the pain.

"You dare to punch me, scumbag? This is what you'll get."

Punch after punch was meeting Takemichi's face. Bruises and blood were everywhere. Every time a punch hit his face, his ears were ringing and the world around him turned black. But Takemichi wouldn't give up that easily, even when all his friends asked him to stop, afraid that he'd eventually lose his life, Takemichi would prove that he would fight until the last drop of blood.

"I won't give up, Kiyomasa! I have a reason to fight, and if you really want to bring me down, then you have to kill me," Takemichi shouted without a single hint of fear in his voice. That actually made Kiyomasa stop for a moment, before smiling manically, asking his subordinates to bring him his bat. "Fine then, I'll just kill you," Kiyomasa snarled.

"You've drawn quite the crowd."

All of a sudden, everyone started bowing to the tall blonde teenager and the shorter one that followed him. Takemichi was baffled by that action, how important were these people that they managed to make all of the audience bow to them?

"GOOD WORK, PRESIDENT!"

Takemichi was taken aback by surprise. The shorter boy— he was the leader of Tokyo Manji Gang, Sano Manjirou!

"G-good work," Kiyomasa greeted him, but without any warning, the taller boy—that Takemichi heard Sano called 'Kenchin'—kicked him right in the gut. "When did you become so important, Kiyomasa? You greet our president with such a shallow bow?" Kiyomasa apologized almost immediately.

Sano Manjirou walked towards shocked Takemichi.

"What's your name?" he asked coldly. "H-Hanagaki Takemichi!" Takemichi thought he would be in huge trouble.

"Takemitchy?"

"Huh? B-but-" Before Takemichi could continue, Kenchin already cut him off, "That's what Mikey said, so it is what it is, right, Takemitchy?"

"Are you really a middle schooler? Takemitchy~ from today onwards, you're my bitch, okay? ♡" Sa-Mikey said with a huge smile on his face, and Takemichi couldn't even be more confused right now.

"HUH?!!"

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Right after that, Takemichi could see the relief on his friends' faces. And immediately they started to recreate that event, fooling around with each other while Takemichi were extremely stressed by the aftermath of that. It was just a job change, working from one monster to another.

"Those two are acting like idiots, aren't they?" Akkun said with a small smile on his face. "It's nice to see them doing stupid things again, feels like a long time ago since I see them act that."

Takemichi smiled when he heard that. Right, they were finally free from Kiyomasa's grasp.

"Do you know, Takemichi? I have been thinking about stabbing Kiyomasa for sometime. If I don't do so, I think we will all be his slaves for the rest of our school life. I almost ended up in jail if not for you. It's thanks to you, Takemichi, that we're all finally free," Akkun thanked him with a soft smile. "You're really cool, you know?" Akkun beamed at him, causing Takemichi to blush. "Oh, come on, you're making me blush now."

Takemichi started to play along with them, glad that he was able to end their middle school's nightmare.

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"Sir? Excuse me? We're at the last stop."

Takemichi blinked slowly only to find the train's officer trying to wake him up. "Huh?"

"We've arrived at the last stop, Sir," the train officer explained to him.

This time, Takemichi was fully awake and almost passed out again because of the shock. He missed his stop! And Takemichi was sure that this was the last train to his home, he felt like crying right now. The fight with Kiyomasa tired him out really badly, so when he finally sat in his seat, Takemichi immediately fell asleep.

"A-And where is this?" he squeaked, hoping that it was not very far from his home. "Roppongi, Sir."

Takemichi finally let out a sigh of relief. It's pretty far from his home, but at least he's familiar with the area. He could sleep on the park bench for one night, it's not like he hadn't done that before.

"Thank you, Sir," Takemichi thanked the officer before walking out of the train.

As he walked out of the train station, nostalgia immediately hit him. "Back again at Roppongi, huh?"

In the future (or in the past?) Takemichi never came back to Roppongi, it's not like he needed to do it anyways. His father was practically missing after his parents were divorced. Two years after they moved out before they finally settled their divorce, his father still called him sometimes, wished him a happy birthday and congratulated him for his achievements, but his call became less and less frequent. When Takemichi celebrated his 10th birthday, he stopped calling, only sending money to his mother. Soon after Takemichi was 18 years old, just a few days after his mother's death, he stopped sending money. He disappeared into thin air as if his existence was Takemichi's mere imagination.

Takemichi sighed loudly, "Why am I thinking about him again?"

He walked around the area, and just at that moment, he realized how crowded it was at night. Roppongi was famous for its red-light district, and Takemichi could finally see it. He never walked around at night, so he never knew what it looked like.

As he was strolling around, a girl suddenly wrapped her arm around his body. Takemichi shrieked with a blushing face, "W-What are you doing?!"

"Help me, baby! Don't let them catch me!" she whined loudly.

Takemichi could see several men running towards him, and the girl immediately ran after saying sorry to him. Takemichi had a bad feeling about that, so he also ran to the other side.

"Shit, shit, shit, why do I have such bad luck today," he screeched in fear, his feet felt like jelly because of how tired he was. Within seconds, the men caught him, yelling, "We got that bitch's boyfriend, call boss immediately!"

Takemichi knew that the "bitch" they were talking about, was the girl that wrapped her arms around him before. "No, no, you got it wrong! I don't even know who that girl is!"

"Don't try to lie to us, you scumbag! Once we brought you to our boss, you'll tell us the truth!"

Takemichi felt like he could die at any moment. When they started to punch him, Takemichi could only close his eyes.

"So this is one of the culprits, huh?"

A new voice could be heard, and Takemhchi was sure it must be the boss. "Yes, boss! He tried to avert us, but we finally caught him."

"Hm~ Let's bring him to our base, shall we? We need to gain some information about that traitor."

"Wait a minute, don't you think he looks familiar, Ran?" the other voice asked. "Hm, now that you've mentioned it... Oi, open your eyes."

Slowly, Takemichi opened his eyes. He could see two tall teenagers towering over him. Those two were what the men called boss? They must be a part of the gangs then.

However, the more Takemichi saw them, the more he was reminded of the Haitani brothers. Especially when he heard the name 'Ran'.

"Huh? Isn't that... Take-chan?!" Rindou exclaimed in surprise.

Now Takemichi was sure that they were the same Haitani brothers he befriended in childhood. "Um... Ran-kun? Rindou-kun? Nice to see you guys again..."

"Hey, hey, you guys, let him go," Ran ordered the men who obeyed him immediately. "Do you know that girl, though, Take-chan?" he asked him once again.

"I thought I'll never see you again after you moved away!" Rindou said at the same time.

"No, Ran-kun, I actually missed my train home and just arrived here.. and I thought the same, Rindou-kun, lots have happened," Takemichi answered them one by one.

"I knew it. Now you guys, keep searching for that traitor, if you can't find her tonight, place a bounty on her," Ran ordered them once again.

They were finally left alone. "Now, now, Take-chan, you must be tired. Do you want to sleep at our apartment for tonight?" Rindou offered.

"N-no! It's okay, Rindou-kun. I don't want to disturb you two from.. working. I can find other places to sleep!" Takemichi immediately declined. He couldn't accept their kind offer and disturbed them, he didn't want to be a burden, after all, he was just their childhood friend.

"Where? On the bench in the park?" Ran asked as he opened his wallet—huh? WALLET? "Since when did you take my wallet?!" Takemichi yelled in surprise.

Ran just gave him a smile, like he always did. "Well, since forever. Anyway, you can sleep at our place, it's really okay. We can just give this... work to other subordinates. This is an order, okay?"

Takemichi could only sigh in defeat, "Okay." After Ran and Rindou helped him to stand, he finally followed them to their place.

"By the way, Take-chan, why are there bruised and cut everywhere on your body? I'm pretty sure with just our men it won't cause such bad bruises," Rindou asked on their way, checking on Takemichi's face and body.

Takemichi could only flinch at that question. "I got into a fight with someone." He didn't elaborate further, not wanting Ran and Rindou to worry.

"Do you defeat them?" Ran asked. "Uh, not really. Others come to help, I'm not really good at fighting, you know? But it's finally over."

Rindou frowned. "That's such a nonsense, Take-chan. You're pretty good at fighting, we used to fight together."

"Um, my skill is getting kinda dull? I mean I didn't really fight these days," Takemichi tried his best to explain. It's not like he's going to tell them that he just time-travelled from the future where he's such a loser who couldn't even fight for his life.

"Dull, huh? Seems like we need to give you a fighting lesson again," Ran smirked at him. They finally arrived at their apartment. Takemichi's face was getting paler. "...fighting lesson?"

"Yeah," Ran said as the lift opened. They entered the lift, and Rindou pressed the number 8. "If your skill is getting dull to the point where you're hurt. Then we need to sharpen them until you can't get hurt again, right?" Ran explained like it's such an easy thing.

"...right," Takemichi answered with a small voice. He's screaming inside, kept thinking that the Haitani brothers would be so disappointed at him when they saw his rusty skill.

As they entered the room, Rindou brought Takemichi to the sofa, while Ran took a first aid kit box to help clean his wounds and bandage him. "And we're done!" Rindou said as he bandaged the last spot.

"Thank you so much, Ran-kun, Rindou-kun. I don't even know how to repay you guys," Takemichi bowed deeply, wincing when his wound stung him. "No, no, you don't need to do that, Take-chan. Just like we've said in the past, we'll protect you, and this time is no exception, okay?" Ran assured him and took him to one of the empty bedrooms.

"This is our guest room, you can sleep here tonight. There's an alarm clock here, so you can wake up on time for your train tomorrow," Rindou explained. "Once again, thank you for you guys' kindness, Ran-kun, Rindou-kun!"

They only smiled at him before waving at him and closing his door. Takemichi could finally lie on the bed. He called his mother first, telling her that everything was alright and he just missed his train. After searching for the next day's train, he set the alarm. Slowly but surely, he felt drowsier and finally fell asleep.

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"I still can't believe we manage to meet Take-chan again," Rindou said as he eat his bag of chips in the living room, watching Ran tidied up the first aid kit box they'd just used to treat Takemichi. "Neither can I. It's good to see him again after such a long time. He looked so thin though, and beaten up so badly," Ran said, sitting beside Rindou.

"I know right? There must be something wrong. Is he bullied?"

"Probably, who knows? He used to get picked on. That's why it's best to teach him how to fight properly this time."

"Yeah, you're right. How about the weekend? He could crash at our place and we could have fun! Introducing him to the gang world maybe?" Rindou suggested.

"No, he's too weak, better not bring him to our world. He might lose his life and we don't need other important people to leave us again. But it's a good idea to give him a lesson every weekend," Ran said.

"Fine, every weekend then. And the next time we meet him again, we need to take him to the salon. That piss-coloured hair is making me crazy!" Rindou complained which received a chuckle from Ran. "Yeah, we sure need to."

To be Continued...

Oh my God, I finally finished writing this chapter. 3,3k words! Yay!

By the way, sorry for the late update. As I explained, I'm so busy these past months since this is my last year in high school and I finally graduated this month! But I also need to work and prepare for college, so... yeah.

I tried my best to write this chapter, it's so difficult to think about how will Takemichi and the Haitani Brothers meet again. After some consideration, I thought that this will be the best. Hopefully, they're not too out of character.

Anwayy, hope you enjoy, see you in the next chapter, bye bye!